Celebrate Christmas with Birmingham Bach Choir

As Christmas draws ever closer, St Alban’s Church, Birmingham, welcomes Birmingham Bach Choir for a service of Nine Lessons and Carols on Sunday 18th December 2016, starting at 3.30pm.

Nine Lessons and Carols features a series of Bible readings telling the Christmas story, interspersed with seasonal music for the choir and congregation

Led by conductor Paul Spicer and accompanied by organist Paul Carr, expect to hear such familiar seasonal songs such as In Dulci Jubilo (Pearsall), Dormi Jesu (Rutter), A Great and Mighty Wonder (Praetorius), and Sing Lullaby (Howells), as well as some possibly less familiar seasonal choral works such as Hodie (Sweelinck), Fuit Homo Missus a Deo (Palestrina), and How Love Bleeds (Spicer), alongside well-loved congregation carols.

Though a long-held annual tradition, this year marks Birmingham Bach Choir’s first visit to St Alban the Martyr, in Highgate, Birmingham.

Built in the late-1880s for the growing population of inner city Highgate, the church was designed by John Loughborough Pearson. Pearson also designed Truro Cathedral, and was additionally responsible for Westminster Abbey restoration work. This, no doubt, goes some way to explaining why St Alban’s cathedral-esque feel.

The Grade II* listed Gothic Revival church is well known for its magnificent reredos – five ornamental panels, behind the altar, painted by Birmingham-born artist Kate Bunce. With a hand-beaten copper frame by sister Myra, the panels demonstrate a strong Pre-Raphaelite influence.

Sarah Platt, Chair of Birmingham Bach Choir, said: “Our annual Nine Lessons and Carols appearance is always popular, so we’re very much looking forward to visiting St Alban’s for the first time; the acoustics are excellent, and it’s a magnificent building, a real hidden gem.”

Nine Lessons and Carols takes place on, 18 December 2016, the last Sunday before Christmas, at 3.30pm. Admission is free, with an optional collection for the church roof restoration fund. No booking required. St Alban the Martyr Church, Conybere St, Highgate, Birmingham B12 0YH. For more information, see www.birmingham.bachchoir.com